Hello Android!

Hello Android!

Well, I finally made my decision to move away from Blackberry and to start using Android. My Blackberry was great the first year, but it really started to have issues the second year. For example, it would drop calls unpredictably and became pathetically slow even after multiple reinstalls. Regardless, I won’t dwell on my Blackberry woes because, for the most part, it was a good phone.

So, let’s rewind two weeks. I started exploring other cell phone carriers and then started reviewing the overwhelming world of smart phones. My wife and I looked at the 3 main carriers: Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile had the best deal for us (we have 5 phones on our plan) and we both were able to upgrade to Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S) phones with the Android 2.1 operating system (Kernel version: 2.6.29). Playing with this phone in the store sold me instantly. I was, quite frankly, blown away by the speed, intuitive interface, the crisp high-definition screen that was flawlessly playing the preloaded ‘Avatar’ movie. Oh, and Swype texting is awesome. I don’t need a keyboard anymore. Okay, so I won’t go into all the technical specifications, but if you are interested visit http://galaxy-s.t-mobile.com/samsung-android-galaxy-phone for more information.

I did play with an iPhone and loved it too, but the Samsung phone seemed much smoother and quicker to me. Plus the screen is way better in my opinion.

So, I have had my Samsung phone for a little over 2 weeks and I am still in love. Here are some of my favorite apps so far:

A Online Radio – online radio plays MP3/M3U/PLS/AAC channels, shoutcast/icecast etc.
Aldiko – eBook Reader.
Barcode Scanner - scan product barcodes, Data Matrix and QR Codes. Also share your contacts, apps, and bookmarks via QR Code.
Congress – keep up with new legislation, contact info for legislators etc.
Dolphin Browser HD – an excellent browser that offers tabs, add-ons, and much more. My favorite add-on is the Dolphin Reader, which provides an “interference-free reading environment.”
Evernote – create notes, tag them, and sync from anywhere.
Fring – free video calls.
Google (Talk, Voice, Maps with Latitude, Google Goggles so you can use pictures to search the web).
Kindle – eBook reader.
Kobo - eBook reader.
Laputa – eBook reader.
Layar – Augmented reality with multiple layers.
mSpot – send 2 GBs of your music to the “cloud” and listen from your phone or any other connected device.
NetQFree – manage your Netflix queue and read reviews etc.
Nook – eBook Reader
News apps (NPR News, NYTimes, TechNews)
Pandora – free personalized radio.
PocketCloud – remotely access your desktop.
Rhapsody – listen to a huge collection of music anytime and from anywhere.
TaskOS – task manager.
TweetCaster – Twitter application.
TweetDeck – Twitter application.
YouTube – for mobile!